Aston Martin, McLaren and Morgan suspend production

Aston Martin, McLaren Automotive and Morgan Motors have all suspended production in the UK following the latest government instructions to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Aston Martin will “temporarily suspend all manufacturing operations” at its plants in Gayden, Newport Pagnell and St Athan. Production is provisionally scheduled to resume on Monday 20 April, but the firm says it will continue to review the situation and “will look to resume operations as soon as it is reasonable to do so”.

CEO Andy Palmer said that “it is our responsibility to ensure we do all we can to support the government’s efforts in slowing the spread of Covid-19 over the coming weeks.”

He added: “I hope and believe that our national fight against this dreadful virus will be successful, and as soon as we have the ability, we will, of course, return to normal operations.”

McLaren, which has its main car production facility in Woking and a carbonfibre components production site near Sheffield, has suspended manufacturing until the end of April.

In a statement, it said that it was “taking this action to ensure the safety of our workforce in light of the latest government advice and so that the company is well placed to resume operations as smoothly as possible in the future.”

Low-volume sports car maker Morgan has also closed its factory in Malvern. A spokesperson said: “We have made the decision to close our factory for the next four weeks to minimise any movement of staff and partners.”

The closure of the facilities effectively completes the shutdown of the UK car manufacturing industry. You can read about the other plants that have closed in the UK and worldwide here.